May/June 2012 Cover by Dr. Bob.

The first clues that Dr. Bob might have a northshore connection are warning signs featuring the Honey Island Swamp Monster (As Seen on TV) and the wild-eyed albino, Onion Head (Bonfouca Boogie Man), greeting visitors in the studio’s parking lot. So what exactly does an iconic “New Orleans” artist like Dr. Bob know about the mysterious waterways of Slidell? It turns out he knows quite a bit.

Born in Wichita, Kan., Dr. Bob is of Crow Indian, French and German descent. His dad was an engineer for aerospace manufacturing giant Boeing Co. The family was among the first wave of “come here” high-tech workers (“missile gypsies,” as Dr. Bob calls his family) who settled in the Slidell area after Boeing won the contract to build the first stage of NASA’s Saturn V moon rocket at the Michoud plant in New Orleans East.

Coming of age at the dawn of suburban development in St. Tammany meant endless adventure to Dr. Bob. “To a kid from Kansas, it was like being in Jurassic Park down here. Every where you turned, something moved, slithered, splashed, jumped or growled,” he remembers. “I started out discovering the secrets of the South, so to speak—all these opportunities to go fishing and hunting. Walking out your front door with a dip net and a flashlight or a frog gig made out of a nail and a broom handle—man, you could catch whatever you wanted to.”

Listen to Dr. Bob recounting his mischievous, if not misspent, youth spent in St. Tammany and it quickly becomes obvious that his time spent exploring the parish’s streams, woods and swamps has greatly shaped his art as much as his subsequent adventures later in life in New Orleans and throughout the South.

Dr. Bob poses with his wire sculpture of Tammanend.

Dr. Bob’s storytelling intersects modern pop culture and the places that “ain’t dere no more” when he explains why he thinks he knows what’s behind the recent sightings of the northshore panther. “We had a neighbor, Arthur Jones, who later on invented Nautilus fitness machines. He owned a snake farm by the old White Kitchen on the road to the Gulf Coast. [Reptile Jungle, where Highways 90 and 190 meet.] That’s where Jayne Mansfield was killed when her driver ran into the back of a truck. We were at Bosco’s Restaurant in Slidell when we heard that. They took her car to Eddie’s Esso in Slidell. I saw that,” he digresses, then gets back on track with the panther. “Mr. Jones kept wild animals and snakes in his home, too. He had a pair of breeding jaguarundis that he kept in a bathtub with a sliding glass door he kept jammed up with a broom handle so you couldn’t slide it.”

Intrigued about the northshore panther reports, Dr. Bob did some research. “The climate is just the same as in Central America, and they describe jaguarundis as cocoa-colored—and they are blackish-looking—and I’m getting tickled over all this.” He brought it up in a visit with his friend, musician Coco Robicheaux, who died last November. (Robicheaux became known nationwide in 2010 for performing a bit of voodoo on the HBO show Treme.) “He was raised in Slidell and his real name was Curtis Arceneaux. Curtis and I used to catch snakes and lizards to sell to Mr. Arthur to feed his snakes and reptiles and stuff. We’d get a dollar for a turtle. That’s big money in the ’60s. Before he died, Curtis and I got to talking about Arthur Jones, who moved from the middle of Slidell to Palm Lake subdivision. Did those cats get away from the old White Kitchen? Or in the move? Or when Camille passed Slidell? Somehow, people are seeing these things and I truly believe it could be those jaguarundis.”

Dr. Bob's northshore icons.

What about Onion Head, the Boogie Man of the Bonfouca? Turns out tales of the mythological monster were made up to scare the youth of Slidell, tales equally believed as tales of the Loup Garou are by the children of Acadiana.

To paraphrase Dr. Bob and make the tale fit for print in a family magazine, he says it all became too real one evening as he and a young lady were “necking” out by Bayou Pacquet. “We were in my daddy’s ’67 Impala and a pine cone fell and hit the roof. BAM! That was the end of that.” The girl (who will remain nameless) screamed, ‘Onion Head! Get the hell out!’ And when she screamed, you see three more cars’ lights pop on and everybody’s hauling ass out of Bayou Pacquet ’cause Onion Head’s coming.”

Dr. Bob’s Art

Dr. Bob is self-taught. The first piece of art that he made and sold was as much a product of the boredom he faced in an early stint as a forest ranger in northern Louisiana as any big creative urge. “There was nothing else to do with no cable and only two TV stations. The Album Hour out of Natchez was the first time anybody heard Lynyrd Skynyrd, so we’re out there turning the antenna up on the hill trying to tape it on a cassette player. We wanted some rock ‘n’ roll, living up in the boonies.”

Mr. Okra.

Going back to his days in the swamps, he carved an alligator. But it wasn’t just a wooden gator. It was a musical instrument. A “ga-tar.” “I can’t play, I can’t sing and I was told I couldn’t carry a tune in a No. 3 washtub, so I made a washtub base. I wanted the neckpiece to be like snakes.” With an alligator’s head carved into the end, he says, “I put the eyes and the teeth in it. It’s the ga-tar, boys! Play one string at a time.” When he unveiled it, he says, “Everyone laughed. It turned into my first piece of art and sold to a New York collector. Last time it changed hands was 15 years ago for $5,000, and it’s in a private collection in New Jersey now. ”

Dr. Bob has since carved two more of these alligators in a labor- and time-intensive process. It takes hours and hours of sanding, he says, and adds that, “Once I get through with the sanding, I do the steel wool and get that down to 0000, which is really fine. After getting the wax on, it’s like butter.” The carved gators serve as demonstration pieces at art shows, where Dr. Bob shows off their finish. “I like to take a rag and just throw it and it slides down the gator, it’s so slick. I take a lot of pride in making it. It’s dangerous. A piece can go wrong after you spent months on it, bust it all to hell.”

He uses real alligator teeth in the alligator and dog pieces. “I get the eyes from anywhere that deals with glass or marbles; the guys at Studio Inferno around the corner are good at keeping me supplied. I buy my alligator teeth by the pound. People ask how I get ’em. I say, ‘Very carefully.’”

Found objects are the basis for much of his art. In an ironic twist, the storm that nearly killed him has ensured a steady supply of discarded signs, lumber, doors and window frames to forage in the decimated areas around his studio. “After the hurricane, I scoured the neighborhoods for what little bit of old New Orleans was left.”

Many of the bottle caps that he uses to bejewel his creations come from the Abita Brewery. He also has a stash of Barq’s root beer bottle caps and wood from the old Barq’s crates with the slogan “Drink Barq’s—it’s good!” stenciled on the sides. Dr. Bob recalls the old Conti St. warehouse. “It smelled intoxicating; that raw sassafras and birch just permeated that building. To this day, you walk in there and it knocks you over.

“The things that mean the most to me are things that come to me by magic,” Dr. Bob says. He has two rescued Union Beer signs from one of New Orleans’ first commercial breweries that are waiting to become part of some artwork, and, he says, “One of the only Dr. Nut signs in existence. It was on the gable-end of a building.” Dr. Nut, a local soft drink that ceased existence in the 1970s, is etched in literary history as the favorite beverage of Ignatius Riley in Confederacy of Dunces. Dr. Bob has cut an alligator-shaped portion out of the sign and, after adding eyes and teeth, will incorporate it into a piece assembled in tribute to the character. “I was thinking, I’ve got Ignatius done, and I want to make up some Dr. Nut bottle caps if I can’t find them online. I have to get the right eyeball to put on him to keep an eye on Ignatius.”

Be Nice or Leave

Even Dr. Bob’s catch phrase, “Be Nice or Leave,” has a back-swamp back-story. It started when Dr. Bob and some of his fellow St. Paul’s students took to the river to do some fishing on a holiday.

“We’d get a six-pack of Dixie, a pack of Marlboros and go out and act like we’re 14-year-old men. I drew the short straw, so I had to go get the beer,” says Dr. Bob. A Pearl River dive bar behind the St. Joe brick works was where the underage artist-to-be entered to buy the day’s “refreshments.”

“It was called Working Man’s Paradise, owned by a man named Edgar Ducre; it was painted red with black and white dice on the building and spelled ‘paradise’ for ‘pair of dice.’ It just intrigued me.” The scene inside the bar made an even bigger impact on Dr. Bob. “The interior was painted this turquoise blue that makes you feel like you’re in Haiti or something. On one wall was this big painting of Edgar Ducre’s son who went to LSU. He’s in his uniform riding Mike the Tiger and throwing a football. It’s awesome; it’s painted really good.”

Then he says, “That’s where I saw ‘Be Nice or Leave.’ It was written with a Marks-A-Lot on a piece of a cardboard beer box. When I got my order and turned to leave, the back of the sign said, ‘There’s Nothing in the World Worth Getting Killed Over.’ It hit me that I didn’t belong there, that I could get killed.”

His Be Nice or Leave signs can be found hanging all over the city, and he’s constantly commissioned to make signs with a personalized spin on the phrase. He has his own versions on sale as well. Be Nasty and Stay, Shut Up and Fish and Shut up and Eat are variations, and he paints Be Nice or Be Bitten signs that he donates to local animal shelters for them to give to donors and people adopting pets.

Dr. Freakin’ Bob

How did Dr. Bob, a man of no obvious medical training, get the name Dr. Bob? He’ll be happy to tell you. It was at the birth of the S.O.B.—the son of Bob, his boy Isaac. “My nickname came when I was helping deliver him at Lakeside Women’s Hospital. Lamaze failed, and we had to do an emergency C-section. I was in the sterile field, so I assisted with it. The nurse, Margie Vanderbeck, who I went to school with, said ‘Well, doctor freakin’ Bob,’ and that was it.”

Dr. Bob participates in many charitable endeavors in the New Orleans area and Bay St. Louis, where the first gallery to carry his work is located, and in Memphis and Washington, D.C. When Mr. Okra, a beloved New Orleans’ roaming vegetable vendor, needed a new truck, neighbors and businessmen rallied to help, as Mr. Okra had become a necessity in Katrina-ravaged neighborhoods after so many local grocery stores had closed. Dr. Bob helped organize the benefit and provided the decorative painting for the new truck. “My piece-de-resistance,” he says.

His work is now found in many private collections and museums throughout the South. Dr. Bob is a regular participant in the Kentuck Festival of the Arts in Tuscaloosa, Ala. A piece was featured in the Smithsonian Magazine in 1999; the Smithsonian’s affiliate, the Memphis Rock ‘n’ Soul Museum, also includes one of his pieces in its collection.

“I did it! I used to tell my friends, ‘Screw you, I’m going to be in the Smithsonian, and then I’m going into the Louvre!’” he says, with only one more internationally-known institution to go.

Dr. Bob’s work can be found at drbobart.net.

“My Father was an uneducated man and a disciplinarian, but he always participated in what we kids did,” Larry remembers. He adds that, despite the fact that his father’s job required much traveling, “He had a strong influence on us. We didn’t have a dad who was with us every night, but when we had him, we had him. When I was swimming [in a high school competition], he’d fly in from out of town to Shreveport or wherever I was.”

As a father, Larry mimicked his own father in the time he gave to his children. “Although single for 12 years, I stayed very close to my sons [Lance and Michael] through college,” he says. Even though he preferred golfing, Larry chose to be more present in his boys’ lives, whether as their baseball coach or basketball coach—or both. “I didn’t know what I was doing [as a coach], but I was out there with them,” he laughs.

When he remarried, Larry became the father of a 4-year-old boy, Adam. He was a baseball coach for him, too, but Adam was more interested in art. “He’s a tremendous artist and a computer whiz. We supported his interests.”

Larry also made an effort (which many say was a successful one) to instill gentlemanly qualities in his sons. He recalls teaching them to respect others, especially their elders. “It doesn’t matter who they are—you treat people with respect, and in return, you will be respected.” And this legacy lives on—“If you ever get around my grandkids, you’ll hear it.”

Larry Rase (center), his sons and grandsons.

After his own kids were grown, Larry didn’t stop giving to children. “I always said that when I was done raising my kids, I was going to take five years and give back.” As a member of 4th Ward Recreation, Larry played a significant role in the group that obtained funding and a land lease to build Pelican Park. “Now, 26 years later, my grandkids are playing there.”

Today, Larry works on the frontline of sales with Zen-Noh Grain/CGB in Covington. His family now includes two daughters-in-law and six grandchildren. At 93, his mother continues to be the strong matriarch of the family, which often gets together to have fun. “We’re all huge LSU fans; even my 4-year-old grandkid is in the stands,” Larry says. “We have weekend barbecues, crawfish boils, whatever is in season.”

Many people ask Larry how he handles his four granddaughters, since he never had a daughter of his own. He says the answer is simple—“I do exactly what they tell me to do!”

Mayor Mike Cooper with his dad, Ernest J. Cooper, a long-time former Covington mayor.

His education and experience have laid a great foundation for his new role. A St. Paul’s graduate, he has a degree in city and regional planning from USL, now ULL, the University of Louisiana in Lafayette. His experience includes work with St. Tammany Parish’s zoning and planning department and Covington’s planning and zoning commission (10 years, five as chairman) and stints in the corporate world in real estate sales and communications.

“Everything I’ve done up to this time has prepared me to serve in this office. I know the people and the community; I have life-long friends here and I know the city inside and out,” he says.

Covington Mayor Mike Cooper.

When we caught up with him, the mayor had been in office for eight months. He’s now able to catch his breath. He’s been busy laying the groundwork for a variety of projects aimed at increasing Covington’s profile by bringing in new businesses and enhancing its livability. “The first six months were a whirlwind,” he says. He had to begin work immediately on a budget proposal for the next fiscal year. Public safety, livability and economic development are foremost in his agenda.

One of the first issues that arose when he took office was the boat landing in Menetre Park on the Bogue Falaya, at the end of 4th Street. Replacing the decaying wooden structure with concrete piers not only solved a safety issue but also insured its use by the public well into the future. The project brought to light an opportunity Mayor Cooper didn’t hesitate to act on.

“While doing this project, a square of property abutting the park came on the market. To preserve it, I put in an offer to buy it on behalf of the city. It’s basically wetlands with cypress, palms and palmettos. The sale went through, I’m glad to say. I wanted to make sure it wasn’t developed in any way in order to buffer this valuable asset.”

A priority he had set going into the election was to see to the conclusion of a long-running dispute between the city and Fire District No. 12. Annexation of unincorporated parish property created double taxation issues and blurred the lines of responsibility between the Covington’s fire department and the fire district.

Working with St. Tammany Parish leaders, the fire district and Covington’s city council, an agreement was reached in early 2012. “We negotiated a solution that was mutually agreeable to the City of Covington and Fire District 12. It establishes a service-area boundary line so that all areas are served with the best possible response times. From a tax collection standpoint, the agreement is basically revenue-neutral. That was one of my priorities before taking office. It’s now resulted in the dismissal of lawsuits, and there is a working relationship between the two departments.”

Mayor Cooper is determined to give downtown streets an overhaul, improving city-owned streets and working with the state on the Boston Street and Columbia Street corridors. Columbia Street is actually a state highway, part of Hwy. 437 until its merger with the 190 Bypass. Boston Street is part of Hwy. 21. The state improvements complement the mayor’s downtown-wide improvement plan, which includes repaving certain city streets and opening up another ox lot for parking.

“I felt that some of our streets in downtown Covington were deteriorating. As I indicated in my budget message, my priority in the capital improvement program was to improve the downtown streets and alleys,” says the mayor. To help pay for the road work, his budget froze the purchase of new vehicles for all city departments and the city negotiated the Columbia Street improvements with the state, which agreed to pay for those in exchange for the mayor and city council’s agreement to assume the roadway’s maintenance within city limits in the future.

Boston Street is the target of two initiatives, the state Department of Transportation Boston Street Beautification Project and a signalization project. Mayor Cooper says the city is participating in the project to improve the sidewalks, trees and planters along Boston Street from the Bogue Falaya River to Theard Street. “They’re going to re-do the sidewalks on both sides and do new tree plantings and put in above-ground planters,” he says. The signalization project will see new traffic signals installed on ornamental posts rather than on wires hanging across the street, and, he hopes, better synchronization of the lights.

Overall, “What I can promise to the downtown property and business owners is that the streets are going to get a facelift. That’s what people look at when deciding to locate or remain in a location.”

The mayor is very optimistic about revitalizing downtown Covington. He was involved in finding new ownership for the Southern Hotel on the corner of Boston and New Hampshire streets. The new owners, he says, are committed to its rapid development and restoration as a downtown meeting place.

As a newly appointed board member of the St. Tammany Economic Development Foundation, Mayor Cooper is plugged directly into one of the best resources available. “Because we don’t have our own economic development department, I know the importance of a municipality partnering with an organization like STEDF for the support and resources they can provide.”

On the economic development front, Mayor Cooper saw early success with the annexation into the city limits of property on Hwy. 190 that was part of a development agreement with retail giant Walmart to build one of its Neighborhood Market grocery stores there. “They required water and sewage, which they probably could have obtained staying outside the city limits, but we negotiated a win-win situation.” Also, across 190 from that location (now a vacant automobile dealership), the mayor says Rainbow Northshore is completing its new offices and auto showroom.

Putting the city’s best foot forward and making it easier for citizens to interact with government were the goals behind the mayor’s overhaul of the Covington website, CityofCovingtonLa.com. “My overall goal is to have a website that is robust, easy to navigate and informative,” he says. Residents can pay their municipal water bills online and easily access government information. A local business directory is also part of the city’s website re-design.

Looking to the Future to Celebrate the past

Covington will celebrate its 200th birthday on July 4, 2013. One of Mayor Cooper’s first initiatives was to commemorate this fact by adding a banner touting the bicentennial to the city’s seal. It features the Native American Tammanend, who was immortalized and anointed into sainthood by Gov. Claiborne, if not the church, 200 years ago when he named St. Tammany Parish after him. “The Indian logo is the long-time logo of Covington. We’ve added the banner for the bicentennial,” says the mayor. Since the city’s founding coincides with the national celebration of independence, the mayor hopes to combine all of the celebrations and has appointed a commission to begin planning those activities.

While preparing for Covington’s next big milestone, Mayor Cooper reflects on the journey that’s led him to be the city’s leader. The 2011 election was not the first time he gave it a shot; he had run eight years earlier. “I didn’t think I was going to run again, but once the seat came open, I decided to put my best foot forward. I think it was the right time for Covington as well.

“Growing up in Covington, growing up in politics—it’s something I’ve always wanted to do. I feel fortunate to be sitting here today.”

These students have also excelled in other areas throughout their high school careers. The graduates’ interests range from academics, athletics and politics to volunteerism, entrepreneurship and the arts. They have been involved in numerous organizations and have been recognized locally and nationally for their accomplishments and contributions to their schools and communities.

Congratulations to the Class of 2012. We are proud of your achievements and encourage you to pursue your dreams in the next chapter of your life. We wish you much success in your future.

Alivia Vicari, Covington High

Throughout high school, Alivia Vicari has been an active leader and volunteer. As a cheerleader, she served as the junior varsity co-captain and the varsity co-captain. She was elected as the City Public Relations officer at Louisiana Girls State, and she was named as a Taylor/Audubon Scholar and Taylor/NOMA Scholar. “Whenever you’re involved, you have a better time and meet more people,” she says. “Being in clubs makes you a well-rounded person, and you have a chance to do community service.”

Her volunteer work includes collecting caps for children with cancer and collecting donations for the United Way, Toys for Tots and the Covington Food Bank. She has also participated in various relays and walks for Alzheimer’s and cancer and has volunteered for Beautification Day, Clean City Contest and Habitat for Humanity.

Alivia’s most influential teacher is her class sponsor and fine arts survey teacher, Mr. Bridges. “He is a well-rounded person, and he is always there for any student who needs anything,” she says. “He helps our class become a better class.” LSU; ophthalmology.

Sara Jones, First Baptist Christian

“The biggest part of my life is being an athlete,” Sara Jones says. “It helps with self discipline—you have to work hard because you won’t get better if you don’t.” As volleyball and basketball captain, she has been awarded First Team All-District for volleyball, was the 2010 Class C Basketball MVP and was a member of the All-District basketball team. She has also participated in cross-country and track and field.

Sara enjoys volunteer work, and she is involved in various clubs at her school, including Passion for Purity. “It is one of the most important clubs to me because, as a teenager, there are lots of temptations that are brought to your attention and you have the choice to stay true to yourself or get involved in demoralizing activities.”

Mrs. Brenda Ziegler, her Bible teacher, has influenced her most throughout high school. “Learning scripture is really important to me, and she always has encouraging words to say to us.” SLU; education.

John “Jake” Chapman, Fontainebleau High

As senior class president, Jake Chapman learned to listen to the suggestions of his peers and then plan the best route to meet the needs of the majority. One of his achievements as class president was the promotion of the PTA’s mark events, which are judged by class participation. For the Thanksgiving food drive, the senior class managed to collect the most items by going door to door for donations.
Jake also has leadership roles in various school clubs, including president of Key Club, vice-president of Student Council, homeroom ambassador and the junior class treasurer.

Jake won Most Outstanding TV Production on Bulldog TV, the school’s broadcast channel. Mrs. April Jarrell, his speech and broadcasting teacher, made the largest contribution to his high school career. “Mrs. Jarrell’s class has taught me how to work with a team, see tasks through to completion, meet project deadlines and take criticism in stride—all skills that are valuable beyond the classroom.” Loyola University; marketing.

Billy Williams, Hammond High Magnet

Billy Williams was an active leader in Student Council throughout high school as class president for three years. A member of the football and soccer teams, Billy also participated in Tangipahoa Parish Leadership TRACC and did volunteer work for the local nursing home.

“Being a part of many school organizations has allowed me to work closely with others and develop leadership qualities,” he says. “I hope to one day become a lawyer, and my ultimate goal is to be involved in politics. My dream is to become the president of the United States one day!”

Billy earned awards for leadership and community service and was elected Upward Bound Class Favorite all four years. “As the first graduating class of Hammond High Magnet School, we have laid a good foundation for other classes to follow,” he says.

“Mrs. Deborah Martin, Mrs. Quinn Navarra and Mrs. Gigi Westmoreland are always keeping me accountable regarding grades, school, college and being the best person that I can possibly be,” Billy says. “HHMS principal Mr. Chad Troxclair has shown me the true meaning of being a leader and a friend to all.” SLU; political science and criminal justice.

Shelby Guinot, Archbishop, Hannan High

Shelby Guinot has been a member of Student Council since eighth grade and has attended the Southern Association of Student Councils. “I’ve gained so many leadership skills, working closely with the moderators to prepare for events,” she says, adding that she has been able to utilize those skills as a member of Campus Ministry and as the lead tour guide as a student ambassador.

Shelby served as captain of the dance team and as the parliamentarian for the National Honor Society. She also volunteered her time for Habitat for Humanity and the Covington Food Bank. Other notable accomplishments include the Coach’s Award for Soccer, the Scholastic Athlete Award and the Tulane Book Award.

Shelby says her history teacher, Charles Baird, is her most influential teacher. “He’s always supportive and there for me. He has guided me and helped me become a better leader.” LSU; nursing.

MJ Hernandez, Co-president, Lakeshore High

As co-president of his senior class, MJ Hernandez has helped the Student Council organize events such as pep rallies and food drives to encourage school spirit and class competition. “I’ve learned you have to step aside and take your opinion out of the equation; you’re not representing yourself, you’re representing them.” MJ believes that his class—the first graduating class at Lakeshore High School—has left a legacy of school spirit for “The Swag Pack” and Titan Pride. “The seniors put so much effort into that!” he says.

MJ was involved in many school activities, including the All-District cross-country team, long-distance track and talented theatre, in which he co-directed a production of Winnie the Pooh. Outside of school, he attended Boys State and the Hugh O’Brien Youth conference. He also participated in various speech contests, winning second place in the district for the American Legion Audio Speech Contest.

“Ms. Sphar, my seventh-grade teacher, had the most influence on me,” MJ says. “She really showed me the beauty of English and how powerful it is to write.” LSU; political science.

Sara Stinson, Co-president, Lakeshore High

Sara Stinson, senior class co-president, is no stranger to leadership. A member of the dance team throughout high school, she was captain for two years and co-captain one year. “Being an officer, I’ve learned teamwork and how to make the right choices for the team,” she says.

Sara has developed her culinary skills through ProStart, a program for advanced food nutrition, through which she participated in team competitions, building and presenting a unique restaurant concept. Sara has given back to her community by cooking for underprivileged children in the Caritas Early Learning program. “Twice a week, I would make red beans and rice, vegetables, bread and dessert for 29 people—it’s a home-cooked meal that they don’t receive often,” she says. Sara also has her own cake pop business, Sweets by Sara.

Sara says Judy Achary, the ProStart teacher, is her most influential teacher. “I can relate to her, and she encourages me to do well.” LSU or Alabama; broadcasting and journalism.

Sam Ingalls, Mandeville High

When his participation in football and wrestling ended after five concussions, Sam Ingalls turned his focus to developing leadership skills. He not only served as class president for three years, but also fostered other interests including music, theater, debating and politics.

Sam has represented his school and Louisiana at many leadership and youth government conferences and programs, receiving numerous prestigious awards. In the summer of 2010, he served as a page for the Senate Republicans in the U.S. Capitol. “It was one of the most amazing experiences a young political nut like me could have had,” he says.

“The people that I’ve met and the leadership qualities that I’ve gained will continue to push me in my future career. I would love to run for office. Nothing would please me more than to serve the people of this community, this state and this country that have given me so much over the years.”

Ms. Marina and Ms. Decker, who sponsored clubs that Sam was involved in, were his most influential teachers. “Their support for me within and outside of the classroom throughout my high school career has made me who I am,” he says. Finance or accounting and political science.

Annie Reed, Northlake Christian

As captain of the dance team, Annie Reed has learned how to work well with different personality types and different ages. She has been named an American All-Star Dancer at dance team camp for four years and was selected for American All-Star Staff for the summer, when she will travel to different dance team camps to help teach and to be a “big sis” mentor to the participants.

A member of the leadership team at Hosanna Lutheran Church, Annie has attended mission trips to Jamaica and Michigan, and she did service work in New Orleans post-Katrina. “Work with church has been really influential to me and going on mission trips opened my eyes to the world around us,” she says.

“Mr. Haindel, who taught me Bible and AP Government, is also the sponsor of our Leadership Council and our senior class,” says Annie. “He has taught me how to be a good leader, and I’m very thankful for him because I can take the skills that he has taught me this year and use them in the future.” LSU; business management.

Lauren Connolly, Northshore High

As senior class president, Lauren Connolly has organized many meetings to allow senior students to brainstorm on ways to win spirit sticks at the school. “My goal as senior class president is to lead my classmates to victory and win the Spirit Picnic.”

Lauren is also a member of Delta Club, an all-girls group that attended a self-defense class and participated in benefit walks. As a member of Interact, Lauren is no stranger to community service, which is the focus of the club. She was also an intern at Walgreens Pharmacy. “Being so involved has helped me to multitask, and I think that is going to help me in college,” she says.

“My English 2 teacher, Mrs. Annie Verzwyvelt, has had the biggest influence on me. Her husband lost his battle with cancer in 2010, and Mrs. Annie has handled his passing with such grace. She taught me valuable lessons on life and I think very highly of her.” ULL; kinesiology.

Bailey Blanchard, Pearl River High

As president of both the Student Council and the senior class, Bailey Blanchard feels humbled by her various leadership experiences. “Being a leader taught me how to deal with pressure, because people look to you for answers,” she says. “It gave me experience in trying to make the majority happy.”

Through WorldStrides, Bailey took an educational trip to Washington, D.C., last summer with American history teacher Melissa Simpher. “Going to D.C. and seeing all the monuments first hand struck a sense of patriotism in me,” Bailey recalls. “It made me have pride in my country and made me understand what it really means to be an American.” The trip also inspired her to establish a club at her school called Pearl River High School Supports American Troops (PSAT).The club participated in Operation Christmas Cards to Afghanistan and has sent care packages overseas.

Bailey is grateful to Melissa Simpher, who also taught her to strive always to be a better person. “She instilled a good work ethic in me and taught me that it’s important to be comfortable with who you are and to appreciate history.” LSU; biology.

Austin Fairchild, Pope John Paul II Catholic High

A class officer for three years, Austin Fairchild was also a member of choir and served as a student ambassador. “As an ambassador, you’re not only helping your school, you’re helping the school’s future,” he says. “Seventh and eighth graders come in timid and shy, but then we ask them if they play sports, and we encourage them to join clubs.”

Austin was involved in many sports, including power lifting and football, becoming captain his senior year. He also participated in track and field and was named most valuable player for hurdles his junior year.
Austin won the Kevin Haynie Award, an annual award for a sophomore athlete who demonstrates what Pope John Paul II looks for in a student—the qualities of a role model.

His most influential teacher was Coach Daniel Hanlon. “He always wanted to see me do better in everything I did, not just in football,” Austin says. LSU; kinesiology.

Jade Beverly, Salmen High

Throughout her high school career, Jade Beverly found a balance among athletics, club activities and volunteer work. She was a member of the softball team and the volleyball team and did power lifting during her senior year.

Jade was elected class representative her freshman and junior years, and as an upperclassman she was chosen to mentor freshmen students. “We are assigned four or five students and meet with them every week to tutor them or answer any questions they may have,” she explains.

Mrs. Kelly Kellum, volleyball team head coach, softball assistant coach and Geometry and Algebra II teacher, has encouraged Jade throughout high school. “We’ve become close over my years in high school, and I can go to her with anything. She pushed me to be a better athlete and a better student.” LSU; architecture.

Gavin Toussaint, Slidell High

Gavin Toussaint was elected class president his freshman, sophomore and senior years. “Being the leader of the class helped me to build good people skills and problem solving skills,” he says. “My class has known each other since seventh and eighth grade, and we’ve watched each other make mistakes and make changes to be where we are now.”

As a defensive end for the football team, Gavin was a three-year starter and captain of the team his senior year. He is a member of the Fellowship of Christian Athletes, which he describes as “a good character-building club.” As a member of the Art Club, Gavin also enjoys drawing and sketching.

“The teacher that I feel had the greatest impact on me would have to be Ms. Hart, my talented art teacher,” he says. “I have grown a lot because of her guidance. In addition to the many lessons about art she taught me, I learned lessons about time management, balance in my personal and social life and how to act in certain situations.” William Jewel College; Liberty, Mo. business/marketing.

Lauren Giambelluca, St. Scholastica Academy

Lauren Giambelluca has been recognized for her leadership abilities by being awarded the Hillary Lanaux Greve Memorial Scholarship. As an officer in various clubs, she says, “The benefit that I’ve taken out of being a leader in high school is that I can do anything I aspire to do—all I have to do is believe in myself.”

To sharpen her leadership skills, she attended a leadership conference at Xavier University in 2010 and the Louisiana Association of Student Councils Convention in 2011. At the St. Tammany Parish High School Film Festival, she was awarded first place overall and first in animation. Lauren’s interests also include swim team and traveling.

The two teachers that have influenced Lauren throughout high school are Coach Pete Bertucci and Bridget O’Conner. “Coach did not let me give up or doubt myself; he pushed me toward my goal and accomplishing my dreams,” she says. “Ms. O’Conner gave each student individual attention, respected you and treated you as an adult. I look up to her a lot.” Undecided.

Samuel Tanner St. Paul’s

Among his various duties as senior class president, Sam Tanner organized pizza days to raise money to help students who wanted to go to prom. The class also decided to give a personalized gift to Brother Ray and to their school—a book of each senior’s favorite memories at St. Paul’s.

Sam was also active in sports, participating in cross-country, soccer and track and serving as the captain of the ultimate Frisbee team. He says that his involvement in sports helped him gain good social skills and become friends with many of the students.

Brother Richard Kovatch has made the most impact on Sam’s life. “Not only is he a great teacher, he is definitely the nicest man around,” he says. “It is truly a blessing to witness the love this man has for his students.” LSU; mechanical engineering.

Alden St. Mary Student Council president, St. Stanislaus College

One of the highlights of Alden St. Mary’s high school years has been his participation in the Youth Legislature conference put on by the YMCA in Jackson, Miss., at the capitol building. “You learn everything you need to know about the legislative branch, and you debate on the floor of the capitol following parliamentary procedure,” he says. This year, he was elected lieutenant governor by over 800 delegates from around the state.

Alden has been an active leader both in and out of school. He was one of the students to represent Mississippi at the Conference on National Affairs; he attended an Apex Leadership Summit at Ole Miss; he went on a mission trip to a Navajo reservation in Klagetoh, Arizona; and he participated in a number of sports and clubs. “Being Student Council president has taught me to be more personable and more understanding and how to take charge to be the leader that some people need.”

Alden’s most influential teacher is Coach Erich Hoffer, who had stopped teaching to pursue a law degree from the University of Notre Dame. But two years later, Alden says, he returned to St. Stanislaus because of his love for teaching. Ole Miss; mechanical engineering.

Tony Miller Student Council president, St. Thomas Aquinas High

In addition to serving as class representative for two years, Tony Miller serves his entire school as president of the Student Council. “Being on Student Council helped me stay involved in my school and be aware of what’s going on and what needs to change,” he says, adding that through council-organized fundraisers, the students raised $2,500 to help a local baby fight a rare disease. Tony was also a member of the football and track teams all four years, lettering in both sports.

Tony has gone far beyond the school’s service hour requirement, helping serve his community in many ways. Despite his busy athletic schedule, he is not only an active member in his church but also an entrepreneur. Three years ago, he started iPhixiPhone.com, a successful iPhone repair business.

Tony says his most influential teacher, Dr. Shannon Resweber, taught him calculus, advanced math and much more. “She has been a great teacher and guide, helping us if we have any problems. She’s just great!” Tulane or SLU; athletic training.

In 1922, the first charter created the New Orleans Council, which was later regionalized into the Girl Scout Council of Greater New Orleans and South Louisiana, extending its jurisdiction from three parishes to 15, including the northshore area. By the 1950s, troops from Slidell and Lacombe were camping in Fontainebleau. Of the more than 17,000 girls and 7,100 adults in the 23 parishes served by today’s Girl Scouts Louisiana East council, over 1,500 girls and 850 adults are in St. Tammany Parish.

Area events have been planned to celebrate the 100th anniversary of Girl Scouting. They include a Centennial Extravaganza in Gonzales March 17, a fundraising luncheon in Baton Rouge March 15 and a FOREever Green Golf Tournament followed by the Rhapsody in Green Gala in New Orleans June 23.

In Juliette Gordon Low’s Footsteps

Today, more than 50 million girls have had the opportunity to build leadership skills through their participation in the Girl Scout program. But they didn’t do it alone.
Noel “Buddy” Anderson and Eileen deHaro are two of the thousands of adult volunteers who continue Low’s mission of helping girls to develop physically, mentally and spiritually.

If you mention Noel Anderson to anyone involved in Girl Scouts locally, you will probably get a blank stare. But if you mention “Buddy,” a light bulb goes off and a big smile comes on. Buddy, a long-time Girl Scout volunteer on the northshore, was also a Girl Guide in the Fourth Malvern Girl Guide Company in Australia, where she lived until moving to the United States in 1981.

Buddy’s mother had been a Girl Guide in the 1920s in New Zealand, her sister Sue was a Girl Guide in Australia and Sue’s three daughters were all Brownies in England. (Girl Guides in other countries are the equivalent of Girl Scouts.) With her own daughters’ involvement in Girl Scouts in the United States, Buddy says, “That’s three generations of Girl Guides in four different countries!”

After settling on the northshore, Buddy started as a volunteer leader for her youngest daughter’s Brownie troop of first graders—Mandeville Troop 147. Her oldest daughter was in a third-grade Brownie troop. Both girls went through Juniors, and one was a Cadette; Buddy was a volunteer troop leader for eight years.

Buddy recalls, “When my daughter asked, ‘Mom do you mind if I don’t do Girl Scouts anymore?’ I said, ‘Not if you don’t mind if I do!’ I had a lot of children in the troop who didn’t have many opportunities, so to come to the Girl Scout meeting was the highlight of their week.” One year, her troop had kids from seven different schools, so she made sure each meeting included time for socializing, and she even planned additional Saturday activities for the girls.

Only a year after Buddy started and only a few miles away in Lacombe, Eileen deHaro went to a meeting to register her daughter for a Brownie troop. But it wasn’t that simple—“The next thing you know, I’m a leader!” she laughs.

“I’m kind of a weird one,” Eileen says about her Girl Scout background. “I was in Blue Birds (a group similar to but not affiliated with Girl Scouts), but when it was time to move up, the leader said there were no Camp Fire Girl openings.” Instead, the girls and their leader decided to form a Girl Scout troop.

“It was awesome,” Eileen recalls. “We did everything. For Jamborees in City Park, we’d build the biggest bonfires and highest flags, and we did it ourselves. I’ve patterned my leadership on the way she led.”
Eileen spent two years leading a Brownie troop, three years with Juniors and three more years with Cadettes. “Those were the years,” she says. “I was having fun!” Remembering the sight of grandmothers walking down the highway in Lacombe to register their granddaughters for Girl Scouts, Eileen says all the hard work is worth it. “You know that you’re making it possible for them to take the program because …”

“Without the leader, you don’t have a troop,” Buddy finishes the sentence for her. “It’s very rewarding.”

Eileen agrees. “When people ask, ‘Should I be a troop leader?’ I immediately say, ‘Do it. You’ll never regret it.’”

Outside of the weekly troop meetings, there are many opportunities for the local Girl Scout troops to interact with each other. And since Buddy and Eileen were both very active leaders, their paths crossed many times at numerous Jamborees (camping trips), leaders’ weekends and other Girl Scout events.

Camping and Cooking

Many Girl Scouts have fond memories of camping at one of council’s properties, which include Camp Covington, Camp Marydale in St. Francisville, Camp Whispering Pines in Independence and the McFadden Cabin in New Orleans’ City Park.

Built in 1927, Camp Covington is the oldest Girl Scout camp in the United States that continues to function with its original design and location; it is also recognized as a Pioneer Camping site. Each cabin is a unique construction because individual civic groups each designed a cabin and supplied the material and labor. Actress Dorothy Lamour camped there in 1929, breaking her toe and passing the life-saving swimming test all in the same day.

For the camp’s 50th birthday, it got a new paint job (using donated paints in a variety of colors) as well as new electrical systems. And although 90 percent of the trees were lost in Katrina, the camp continues to provide a fun camping experience for each new generation of Girl Scouts.

Girl Scout encampments are weekend or day-long camping events open to all troops in the area who wish to participate. Before the leaders take the girls camping, they have to complete trainings for camping, canoeing, horseback riding, cooking and more.

In addition to camp activities such as hiking, cooking and canoeing, there are skits, costume contests and presentations. Buddy says, “One year, we decided we’d be Rockettes and started high kicking on the field!”

Eileen remembers, “We were always in Tall Winds [a campsite at Whispering Pines in Independence], the farthest unit … maybe they were trying to isolate us because we were too loud.” Her troop chose to be aliens for one campout, creating costumes from recycled items such as egg cartons and cookie boxes.

“The best camping we did was a joint camp. The Juniors showed the Brownies four different ways to cook—in a Dutch oven, a box oven, on the grill and in the coals. The Brownies were just stunned that we made all those things!”

Once, Eileen’s troop met at Chahta-Ima Elementary School to bake cookies for the public using a box oven made by lining a box with aluminum foil, putting coals in it and wrapping a blanket around it. “The head cook for the school came out and said, ‘What are you doing?’ We gave her a taste and she said, ‘You mean I wasted all that money on an Easy Bake Oven and I could have just given her a box?’”
Buddy remembers teaching her troop how to cook on a buddy burner. “We met at the fireman’s station, and everyone had a little fire on the driveway to practice with,” Buddy says with a laugh. “They had to cook on it and eat what they cooked!”

World Thinking Day

In her first year as a leader on the northshore, Buddy established a local celebration of World Thinking Day. Originating in the 1920s or ’30s, February 22 was picked in honor of the birthday of Robert Baden-Powell, the founder of Boy Scouts in England, and his wife, Olive, who recruited Girl Guides and dedicated her life to the international aspect of the movement. This special day was to be observed around the world as participants took time to think of each other and send greetings of friendship and peace.

Buddy started with a small World Thinking Day for her troop. Each child chose a country to represent, drew the country’s flag and put together a folder about the country. The parents cooked food from the countries their daughters chose. Buddy invited four local troops and asked each to bring a song or a game from another country to teach the girls.

The only glitch in the successful event was that other troops were upset that they missed out on all the fun! So in 1984, Buddy organized a larger World Thinking Day event open to every troop in the Mandeville and Covington Service Units that chose to participate. Each troop chose a country and educated the other troops through songs, dances, costumes and displays. Three hundred Girl Scouts participated in the fun, educational day. “And we’ve done it every year since,” Buddy says, adding that they now host two separate events in the Mandeville and Covington areas because of the large attendance. “It’s fun, and so rewarding.”

Though she is not a troop leader anymore, Buddy still leads the World Thinking Day events. This year, she is helping plan a council-wide event to celebrate both World Thinking Day and the 100th Anniversary of the Girl Scouts—the Winn-Dixie Girl Scout Centennial Extravaganza on Sat., March 17, in Gonzales, where Girl Scouts and their families will enjoy a carnival of rides, games, a parade of flags and other activities.

“The World’s Largest
and Longest Running Bake Sale”

In the 1920s, Girl Scouts baked their own cookies for the cookie sale each year, selling them for 25 to 30 cents per dozen. Today, although the cookies come from a commercial baker, the experience still requires effort from the girls. They learn important skills such as business ethics, goal setting, people skills, decision-making and money management.

Eileen laughs as she remembers a situation involving both business ethics and people skills. “I was a troop leader and the cookie mom, and my daughter was top seller. I told her if someone says they are on a diet, refer them to the shortbread because they have less calories.” But when presented with the situation, her daughter told the potential customer, “Well, buy these cookies. They have no calories!”

In honor of the anniversary celebration, Girl Scouts is offering Savannah Smiles, new bite-sized lemon wedge cookies named for the city where Girl Scouting was founded. From March 2 to 18, Girl Scouts will be selling cookies at various booth locations. (Call **GSCOOKIES or visit iTunes to download the Cookie Locator mobile app.) As an exciting touch, the girls will “bling” their booths for a chance to win troop prizes.

An Ongoing Commitment

Though they no longer have children in Girl Scouts, Buddy and Eileen have found many ways to stay connected with the program.
Buddy works behind the scenes in the Girl Scout Service Unit 681, which covers Lacombe, Mandeville and Madisonville, helping with registrations, summer camps and other troop activities—including, of course, World Thinking Day. And she still recycles aluminum cans for the Girl Scouts’ buddy burners.

Elieen, a member of the American Association of University Women, has invited Girl Scouts to participate in relevant AAUW presentations and events, such as Sister-to-Sister Summits and Vision 2000. She is also trying to find ways to encourage their interest and participation in STEM-related fields—specifically science, technology, engineering and math.

“I enjoy running into my old scouts,” Eileen says, mentioning Brandi Barrios Najolia, co-owner of Café Lynn in Mandeville, and Jessica Canik Lewis, a medical assistant at the Ochsner Clinic in Mandeville.
One of Buddy’s troop members, Trese Taquino Hood, now serves on the board of the GSLE. “I was very flattered; it was a tremendous compliment. Also, a lot of my old Girl Scouts have been troop leaders,” Buddy says.

Many times, experiences that girls have in Girl Scouts have shaped their future careers, Buddy adds. Her own nieces have followed career paths that started from badges they enjoyed earning as Brownies in England—one is a garden photographer and the other owns and runs a preschool. Also, another of Buddy’s former troop members discovered a love for gymnastics at a Girl Scout function. For Julie Ballard, that love developed into a gymnastics scholarship to Georgia State University and trying out for the U.S. Olympic team.

These successes may be a result of an important rule in Girl Scouting—the girls in each troop have to make the decisions. “We are allowed to guide them in terms of safety, but as they grow up, they take on more responsibilities,” Eileen says.

Buddy adds, “This is why Girl Scouts is a good program for girls—it’s so important for girls to excel and be their own leaders without pressure and distractions.”
And, “It’s the best fun!”

For more information on anniversary events, visit gsle.org. In addition to the anniversary, Girl Scouts has declared 2012 the Year of the Girl. This initiative will attempt to educate the public about the need for women and girls in leadership roles.

Sidebar:
Leaving a Legacy: Mary Jane Becker

For someone who has never been a Girl Scout, Mary Jane Becker is a staunch promoter and supporter of the program. As a child, Mary Jane wanted to be a Girl Scout. “I even had an old uniform, but there were no troops nearby,” she recalls.

Her involvement with the Girl Scouts began in 1978, when she volunteered as a troop leader for her daughter’s Brownie troop in New Orleans. She led Brownies and Junior scout troops until 1984. “We worked on earning badges, which is a very educational opportunity for them,” says Mary Jane, recalling the camping and first aid badges. “I took kids to Camp Whispering Pines once in the fall and once in the spring, and they really did enjoy that.”

After moving to the northshore, Mary Jane was elected to the board of the Girl Scout Council of Southeast Louisiana (now Girl Scouts Louisiana East) in 1996. After serving as treasurer and vice president, she was president from 1999 until 2003. “When I took over as president in early spring of 1999, our big concern was Y2K,” she recalls with a laugh. “It’s funny now, but it wasn’t a bit funny when we were struggling with it!”

Mary Jane founded the Juliette Gordon Low Heritage Society to attract planned gifts and bequests. She was also a founding member of the council’s Every Girl, Everywhere Society, a multi-year giving society established in 2001.

In 1999, Mary Jane received the Thanks Badge, a national Girl Scouts adult award that honors an individual whose ongoing commitment, leadership and service have had an exceptional, measurable impact on the Girls Scout mission. She also received the Minnie Finley award in 2003, for dedication to and service in Girl Scouting that personified responsible leadership, commitment to community and an undaunted belief in the potential of youth.

Although she no longer serves as a board member, “I certainly am at the beck and call of the Girl Scouts—especially for fundraising help,” Mary Jane says. A recent example is the Brownie troop that meets in her office building. When one of her employees asked for a space to have troop meetings, Mary Jane agreed. “It’s really cute. I can hear their little voices. It’s exciting to see that starting all over again,” she says.

A transplant from a more northern clime—he’s been around here long enough that it would be rude to call him a Yankee—Paul became affixed to the northshore in the 1970s after his 20-something, collegiate “wander years” out West in school, tending bar and cooking in restaurants. He came to Hammond and met up with his brother, Richard, who was attending what was then Southeastern Louisiana College. They were joined in 1976 by their friend and business partner Rick Colucci.

In 1977, Paul, Richard and Rick decided to start a restaurant. With a little capital and a lot of sweat equity, they renovated a spacious but run-down residence in Hammond and transformed it into the Jacmel Inn. “It was something that hadn’t been seen before, at least in Tangipahoa Parish. We didn’t even have a deep-fat fryer. We were doing dishes like bouillabaisse, Alaskan king crab, redfish with crabmeat, Creole specialties and roast duckling. We had a diverse, more contemporary menu, way beyond what was being presented locally.”

Three years later, the team renovated another historic building, on Railroad Avenue, and opened Brady’s, which has a more casual and more affordable menu. Unfortunately, Richard passed away in 1982. (The Richard Murphy Hospice Foundation was founded in his memory.) Paul and Rick pressed on.

Paul indulged his passion for sailboat racing at the Pontchartrain Yacht Club in Mandeville. “There were a lot of great people at the club—I have a lot of good friends there today—and I was enamored with the idea of opening a restaurant in Mandeville.”

He and Rick acquired and set about renovating the Prieto Grocery building on Girod Street with the help of Tim Eihausen and Wallace Simmons. Named after legendary Italian racecar driver Tazio Nuvolari, Nuvolari’s opened in 1983. “I had met Tim in Colorado and talked him into coming down; Wallace had worked for us in Hammond. We couldn’t have done it without those guys,” Paul says. Tim was Nuvolari’s first chef, and Wallace has managed the restaurant ever since.

While all of the restaurants share common threads, each one offers diners its own attractions. Nuvolari’s is Italian-inspired fine dining, Jacmel Inn is Caribbean/Creole and Brady’s focus is American casual. “They’re all different by design,” says Paul. “Instead of having the same concept 60 or 100 miles apart, customers can travel a short distance to enjoy different experiences and different prices.”

Jacmel Inn is located at 903 E. Morris St. in Hammond, 542-0043; Brady’s at 110 Southwest Railroad Ave. in Hammond, 542-6333; and Nuvolari’s at 246 Girod St. in Mandeville, 626-5619.

An author of four published books, Humberto’s first two books recount his outdoor adventures, while his most recent works have been directed at debunking, in his view, the myths surrounding the architects of the Cuban revolution. Over the years, both topics have landed him television appearances and public speaking engagements.

Humberto Fontova relaxes at home with his faithful companion, Hunter.

Humberto’s life spent embarking on hunting and fishing exploits culminated in two books, whose rather lengthy and quite descriptive titles are The Helldivers’ Rodeo: A Deadly, Extreme, Scuba-Diving, Spear Fishing Adventure Amid the Offshore Oil-Platforms in the Murky Waters of the Gulf of Mexico (published in 2001, and hereafter referred to as Helldivers) and The Hellpig Hunt: A Hunting Adventure in the Wild Wetlands at the Mouth of the Mississippi River by Middle-Aged Lunatics Who Refuse to Grow Up (published in 2003, and which we’ll call Hellpig).

Swamp Man

When Humberto was 11, the Fontova family settled on Neyrey Drive in Metairie, which was paradise for an adventurous kid. “From Causeway to Lake Villa to West Esplanade, that was our stomping grounds,” he recalls. In 1965, much of the area was undeveloped. “You had woods and pastures from West Esplanade to Lake Pontchartrain. I’d get on my bike with my Benjamin pump pellet gun and my fishing pole and a couple of buddies, and we’d spend the whole day along the lakefront, shooting rabbits, catching trout, crabbing—I look back on those years and, think, ‘Oh man!’”

Humberto remembers, “Technically, it was illegal to hunt back there. We’d do it with pellet guns, dodging the cops; the JPs would chase us into the briars—but they’d never chase us far. A couple of times we got caught, but it was just, ‘Y’all go home.’”

Humberto got older, but, as hinted to by the titles of his books, never outgrew being a kid on a bike with a pellet gun. He just became an older and even more passionate outdoorsman who hunts and fishes to this day with the same guys that accompanied him on his boyhood adventures. Responsibilities—they’re taken care of, but sometimes with the migratory schedules of waterfowl calling the shots, so to speak.

Humberto (Disco Che) and Shirley during the disco days.

A photo of Humberto and his wife, Shirley, taken during the height of the ’70s disco craze depicts a younger version of the couple. Because of his dress, hair, moustache and beard, he calls this depiction of himself “Disco Che,” a reference (but, we’ll learn, not a complimentary one) to Cuban revolutionary Che Guevara. Taken at Nicholls State, where Shirley was going to school, it was just a few months after they met during spring break in Panama City Beach.

“It turned out that we grew up about two miles from each other; I grew up on Neyrey and she grew up on Bissonet. I went to Rummel; she went to Grace King, which was right behind my house. Our paths had never crossed until we met at spring break. We met in April ’77 and were married on December 16 in ’78. I was in graduate school at Tulane at the time. The reason we got married that day was that duck season has a split in the middle, and it was the weekend of December 16. I’m fanatical about duck hunting and was probably more so at the time. Not only didn’t I want to miss a duck hunt, I probably wouldn’t have been able to get any of my groomsmen to come!”

Helldivers and Hellpig

After graduating from college, Humberto worked in sales and marketing for Dunn and Bradstreet. “With an international company like that,” he says, “every two years came the option to relocate, obviously with a promotion, but I kept turning them down. Shirley’s family was all here; my family was all here. Where else in the world can you be in your 40s or 50s sitting around a campfire with the guys you went to high school with who stood in your wedding?”

“Finally,” Humberto notes, “it came to a point where they said they weren’t going to have a New Orleans office anymore.”

Humberto had been writing a monthly feature for Louisiana Sportsman magazine detailing his hunting and fishing adventures. When his company closed its New Orleans location, Shirley, his wife said, “If we’re not going to move, plunge into your real vocation full-time.” Humberto decided to stick around and says, “I’ve never regretted it.”

The Helldivers are a group of guys, a dive club. Humberto was not a member of the club, but he was friends with some of its members and occasionally dove with them and some of the guys he tore around the wilds of Metairie with as a boy.

The Helldivers book came out with an unusual connection, a thread, so to speak, to Humberto’s disco days. “To dive in the summer off Louisiana, obviously you don’t need a wet suit to keep you warm; that’s not the issue. You need something to keep you from getting ripped to shreds on the barnacles. Cajun divers used what they called a ‘Cajun wet suit,’ which was blue jeans and a lumberjack shirt. Those were cotton and absorbed water. They were selling something in dive shops called a ‘dive suit.’ It wasn’t insulated; it was just polyester. As I was looking at these suits and the price tag on them, I said, ‘I’ve got some of this material at home: my old disco clothes.’ So we go out to the rigs, I’ve got the angel-flight bell-bottoms and the floppy disco shirts.”

Humberto says it was an interesting, if shocking, sight for the hard-working roughnecks out on the rigs when they saw a boatful of guys with masks and tanks on—and bell-bottom pants. “It was even more interesting under water. You’re flapping under water and your collars are flowing and the bell-bottoms are billowing.

He ended up writing an article called “Disco Diving,” which evolved into Helldivers, and also began his television appearances. The book caught hunting advocate and rock ’n roller Ted Nugent’s attention, and he recommended Humberto to Bill Maher as a panelist on Maher’s show, Politically Incorrect, when Maher wanted to tackle a hunting-related topic.

As the only hunting advocate on the panel, which was led by PETA board member Maher, Humberto faced down actor James Coburn on one show, pointing out that Coburn and the other panelists had been eating the meat-containing hors d’oeuvres backstage before the show. Humberto invoked Coppolla’s The Godfather by saying, as he recalls, “You know something? Somebody killed those animals, so the only difference between you folks and me is the difference between Michael Corleone and Don Barzini. Mikey insisted on making his own hits; he insisted on going into that restaurant and shooting Sollozzo and McCluskey. Y’all are Barzini; I’m Mikey. That’s the only difference. We’re just as responsible for the death of that animal.”

At a later appearance on the show, Humberto tackled a group of vegetarians, including comedian Tom Green, activist Howard Lyman and actress Florence Henderson. “Mrs. Brady actually took my side,” Humberto laughs as he remembers the Brady Bunch star. Humberto confronted the group about tofu, pointing out that soybeans that make tofu have to come from land cleared for cultivation. “A 50-acre tract of hardwoods that I used to hunt in was cleared for soybean cultivation. In the process of that clearing, they killed more cute furry squirrels, they rolled over more rabbits, they killed more animals in two weeks of clearing that land for your tofu than I’ve killed in five years with my gun and bow,” he recalls saying.

He will often humorously point out that while “free range” chickens are the rage, he goes one step further: “I insist on catching all of my animals in the act of free-roaming!”

The Hellpig Hunt was, he says, almost a continuation of Helldivers. “The same cast of characters doing things that people can relate to more than spear fishing on rigs, which is really just a South Louisiana thing.”

Taking place in what seems like the end of the earth in the Pass a Loutre Wildlife Management area at the mouth of the Mississippi, Hellpig follows Humberto and his buddies indulging in all the bounty nature has to offer in that remote spot. A morning hunting ducks is followed by an afternoon catching redfish and an early evening bow-hunt for deer, all in the same area.

As if that’s not enough, “We ran into some guys who were hunting pigs with dogs. It’s crazy. They catch the pigs alive. They caught a gigantic pig, and that’s where the title, The Hellpig Hunt, comes from.”

Sharing the Bounty

For Humberto, it all comes down to family, friends and sharing his catch. It also ties into living on the northshore; his family has called Covington home since 1989.

“The beauty of hunting around here is that I can hunt within 15 minutes of my doorstep. But the really important thing is that I get to hunt with my father, who’s 85 years old. He lives in Metairie right off Causeway. He hitches up the trailer with the four-wheeler, he’s here in 45 minutes and 10 minutes later, we’re on it. He’s back home by noon. We get some meat, and we get to hunt together. That’s the important thing for me, to share the experience with him. Lots of times, it will be my dad, me, my kids or my nephews hunting—three generations of Fontovas hunting.”

Humberto shows off a fresh haul of ducks.

Given all the creatures the Fontovas have harvested over the years, there is a seeming lack of stuffed animals in the Fontova home. Humberto says that’s not the important thing—only a few people, hard-core hunters, really appreciate trophy heads. “The way I do it, the trophy comes out on the serving platter. Venison fajitas and nachos, deer back strap in mushroom burgundy sauce, duck gumbo and even nutria sauce piquant. Share that with your family and friends and everyone can appreciate your trophy. For us, to share is the joy of hunting. It’s a family thing. We go on vacation and we eat fish, ducks and deer that we pulled out of the woods and the waters every day. Deer nachos, duck gumbo, bronzed redfish—that’s our family vacations. That’s the trophy; that’s what makes it all so rewarding.”

The Debunker

Humberto’s latest books are rooted in his family’s experience as émigrés, coming to America in 1961 following the Cuban communist revolution. Fidel: Hollywood’s Favorite Tyrant (published in 2005) and Exposing the Real Che Guevara: And the Useful Idiots Who Idolize Him (2008) are his efforts at debunking what he believes are myths perpetuated by the media and academia. While his hunting exploits landed him some exposure on the now-defunct Politically Incorrect, (he’s not been invited on Maher’s HBO show with a similar format, Real Time), his Cuba books resulted in Humberto’s often being tapped as a commentator on Cuban issues on conservative TV and radio shows, including those of Bill O’Reilly, Sean Hannity and Glenn Beck.

“My dad was an architect; my mom was a college professor. When the revolution took over, it was a no-brainer; it was turning into a Stalinist regime. My parents saw it coming.” He was only 7 years old, but he remembers the harrowing time of their escape. Although his parents believed all of their paperwork was correct, Humberto says, “We were getting ready to board the plane, and soldiers came out and grabbed my dad. At that time, the firing squads in Cuba were killing hundreds of men and boys weekly. My mom told my dad, ‘If you can’t come with us, we’re not leaving.’ We were going to a strange country with only the clothes on our backs; we didn’t know the language. He said, ‘Whatever happens to me, I don’t want my children growing up in a communist country. They have no future here.’ So momma kind of sucked it up, and we got on the plane.”

They arrived in Miami, where his mother learned his father had been placed in jail. Having some close relatives in New Orleans, the family headed there. After some time, they received a call that his dad was on his way to join them. “Our story had a happy ending, but tens of thousands of Cuban families did not,” he says.

Kicking it in Covington

When he’s not making TV or radio appearances or penning books—a new one may be in the works, based on his years of writing about the outdoors—he enjoys the convenience of living in Covington. Not only is he close to his deer lease, when hunting season is over, “I can go four blocks down the street and put my pirogue into the Bogue Falaya or lower Tchefuncte. I’ve got my little pole, and I come back with a bucket full of catfish and bream. You can’t beat that with a stick. And people wondered why I didn’t want to relocate?”

Roy’s artwork has graced the pages of Inside Northside for almost a decade. His watercolors, cartoons and caricatures have been a unique contribution to the magazine.

A product of the Midwest, Roy was born in Ohio in 1921. A lanky gent with a warm smile and mischievous eyes, he’s got an all-American Hal Holbrook quality about him, and his midwestern drawl makes you feel comfortable in his presence.

During the Great Depression, he lived and worked on his aunt and uncle’s farm in Indiana. His job as a boy was to take water on horseback to workers in the field, carrying two gigantic clay jugs hanging from each side of the saddle horn. Once, his playful uncle snuck up behind him in a cloud of dust, gunned the motor and honked the horn. “It spooked my poor horse, which ran like the wind as I held on for dear life. He ran full tilt for two miles till we finally reached the barn, both exhausted. I felt lucky I wasn’t thrown and killed. The clay jugs were still intact, I was happy to realize, but I always kept an eye peeled for my uncle from that day on.”

Roy’s Aunt Lulu raised him “mostly like Aunt Polly did Tom Sawyer, except Lulu didn’t have a heart of gold and was the main reason I decided to leave home.” He got the wanderlust, so he hitchhiked out West, grabbing odd jobs and life experiences along the way.

Roy Robinson. Copyright 2012, Heather Burbrink, kristinandheather.com.

In Los Angeles, Roy joined the Army Air Corps (forerunner to the U.S. Air Force, for you young whippersnappers out there). Though mostly self-taught as an artist, he had the gumption to send cartoons to Yank Magazine, the official service weekly. Yank was distributed to G.I.s all over the world during World War II. “I was thrilled to have some 30 cartoons published, which started me on a career in art.”

All of Roy’s World War II cartoons in Yank were lost through the years. His wife suggested he write a blurb in a magazine called Reminisce asking readers for their old copies. “I got about 50 replies! People sent me bundles of them. I was touched. The cartoons were kinda crude, and I like to think I’ve improved since then.”

In 1949, at the suggestion of friends, Roy moved to New Orleans to work as a graphic artist for the Louisiana Health Department. However, Gov. Earl K. Long scrapped the program in his first year in office.

Roy's Mike the Tiger cartoon.

Undaunted, Roy did a stint at painting Mardi Gras floats for Blaine Kern the year Kern started designing and building parades. “I answered an ad and met Blaine, who handed me a pad and pencil and said ‘Draw me a shoe.’ I did, and he hired me on the spot.” That led to designing the artwork for carnival paraphernalia like cups, doubloons, programs and ads.

After teaching graphic arts at the Newcomb Art School for two years, Roy became art director for a number of television programs. He then tried out Philadelphia and Chicago, but in 1968, he came back and put down roots “way down yonder” for good.

“I was a staff artist at Mouton Art Associates, and we serviced ad agencies and clients directly with advertising art.” Roy did artwork for the city under the Landrieu administration (that’s Moon—Mitch’s daddy, kids). He did the “Pride Builds New Orleans” logo back then and tried to resuscitate it for Mitch’s campaign as “Pride ReBuilds New Orleans.”

One of the principals at Mouton Art Associates was Frank Sciortino, a wildly creative Irish-Italian artist who had been my mentor at an ad agency where I worked as a copywriter and broadcast producer. Roy and I excitedly swapped stories of Frank’s energetic creativity, vigorous temper and fondness for martinis at lunch. We both shared respect for his imagination. Mouton was a hot, creative shop in those days, and Roy was on his way.

A Roy Robinson cartoon.

“When I started at Mouton, I had to do a little bit of lettering, a bit of layout, photo sizing, cartooning, whatever. But for the 25 years I was there, I did caricaturing on the side. I worked conventions, trade shows, charity events and parties. I continued that work after the art agency closed and my wife and I moved from the French Quarter to the northshore. We’ve lived in Abita Springs for some 30 years now.”

In addition to caricaturing, Roy continues to paint watercolors. His favorite artist is Winslow Homer. “He was a great American watercolorist—and the most diverse. He started out during the Civil War doing illustrations for Harper’s.”

Roy’s watercolors are in the collections of local notables such as Angela Hill, Diane Winston, Ron Swoboda and John Preble, as well as at Inside Northside. (His watercolor of a Mardi Gras king’s float appeared on the cover of the January-February 2007 issue.)

The Art of Caricature

The word “caricature” comes from the Italian caricare: to load; exaggeration by means of often-ludicrous distortion of parts or characteristics. Leonardo da Vinci was one of the earliest caricaturists. “He drew what he called ‘distortions’ of people with very bizarre prominent features,” Roy reflects. “Dick Van Dyke did caricatures at WDSU-TV before he left for Hollywood. And popular actor George Clooney is a caricaturist. I would advise him not to quit his day job, though. There are a few wealthy caricaturists in the world, but most of us simply enjoy the work.”

Since a caricature is an exaggerated portrait, I asked Roy if he ever got into trouble for magnifying a physical trait that the subject was sensitive about. “Once I got a phone call that shook me up a bit. The voice said, ‘Mr. Robinson, this is Carlos Marcello.’ But before I could pick my jaw off the floor, he added that he had the same name as his uncle, but that he was in the catering business. Turns out he had a large function at Le Petite Theatre and wanted to hire me to do caricatures of his guests. I gladly obliged,” he laughed. “Had I done a caricature of the Carlos Marcello, you can bet it would’ve been flattering.”

Roy deals with people’s egos when he caricatures them, so he’s often on thin ice when he’s trying to amuse and not insult them. He says women are far and away more willing to be subjects of caricature than men. When he works conventions or parties, he typically sketches 80 percent more women. “I think the ladies seem to have a more honest appreciation of what they really look like, though I must say they sometimes lift their chins a bit too high (for obvious reasons).”

The request most often made by his subjects? “Don’t make my nose too big.”

Celebrities he’s caricaturized include actor Caesar Romero, comedian/presidential candidate Pat Paulsen, Laugh In comedienne Jo Anne Worley, columnist Art Buchwald, TV personality Dr. Joyce Brothers, opera star Marguerite Piazza, clarinetist Pete Fountain, “and so many other stars of yesterday that few folks remember today. I drew just about every star that played at the Beverly Dinner Playhouse in those days.”

At 90, a New Venture

I asked Roy what his secret was for being in such good shape and still working at age 90. He showed me a cartoon of himself with lines drawn to parts of his body with explanations like cataracts, hearing, rosacea, sinusitis, etc. The cartoon is entitled Over at the clinic they call me the Medical Marvel!

“My wife’s probably the reason I’ve lived as long as I have.” Roy divides his life in half, relating that the first 45 years were real screw-ups, especially the last 25 years of that period. “Then, one morning I woke up on a park bench in Chicago and realized my portfolio was gone, and so was my future. That turned my head around.” The past 45 years have been sober ones. His wife has helped him every step of the way. “Martha, she’s my rock.”

Today, Roy still does his famous caricatures, but he is focusing on his newest venture: home and business portraiture. His business plan includes not only home and business owners, but also real estate professionals wishing to give their clients a unique gift, a watercolor illustration of their home. His pricing is ridiculously low, but he wants to establish his new enterprise quickly. “Heck, Webb, I’m 90—and burnin’ daylight,” he chuckles.

Prior to her recent inauguration, Pat’s transition team orchestrated a smooth changeover from Kevin Davis’ leadership. The team was directed by Howard Daigle, managing partner of the Daigle Fisse & Kessenich law firm. He says, “I think we’ve been blessed with very good leadership for the past 12 years with President Davis and the members of the council that have served with him.”

Howard believes that with this solid foundation, residents won’t see many dramatic changes under Pat’s guidance, but there will be a new focus on economic development. He explains, “We will see a far more robust economic development effort supported by a realignment of the administrative organizational structure to support that mission more clearly and better align the administration’s efforts to provide the services that residents are expecting and need from their government today.”

Shortly after her election, Pat spoke at a St. Tammany West Chamber of Commerce luncheon. Following that event, we asked her to tell us more about what we could expect to see under her leadership as parish president.

IN:        What do you see as the most important issues for St. Tammany Parish in 2012?

PB:        Just as in other parts of the country, the economic downturn has hit St. Tammany. While we have not been as negatively impacted as most of the country, it has caused our revenue to shrink. One of the most important things we will face in 2012 is finding a way to provide the services our citizens want and need with less money. We will look very closely at how our tax dollars are spent while we develop a more pro-active economic development plan that will bring more jobs to our area. In addition, we will always have infrastructure and drainage issues with which to contend and will have to find efficiencies in those areas also.

Pat Brister. Photo by Thomas Growden.

IN:        Are there specific barriers to economic development that you will focus on in the short term? Can you elaborate on the pro-active economic development plan, including partnerships with the chambers, Northshore Business Council and Economic Development Foundation?

PB:        It will be necessary to look at all issues affecting our economic development, including planning and zoning, taxing and impact fees. We will pull together the different organizations in St. Tammany to come to the table with their wealth of knowledge, ideas and resources. One of my strengths is the pulling together of ideas from many areas and coming up with an overall program of work to best use those ideas. In my conversations with leaders of the organizations mentioned, I have learned that they are willing and excited to work with my administration to accomplish our economic development goals.

IN:        You’ve mentioned the importance of film production jobs for St. Tammany’s economy. How will you help the growth of the technology sector?

PB:        There has been a lot of work done in this area already, and we will expand on what has been started. In this regard, regionalization will be even more important than ever. I have a great working relationship with the leadership of our neighboring parishes. I will work with GNO, Inc. and the Louisiana Economic Development department to make sure we are at the table when decisions are made to go after the companies in the technology and film industries. The move by Globalstar to St. Tammany has given us a very good entrée into the Silicon Valley companies that are looking to move to a more economical area of the country. We must also make sure we have the educated and trained personnel that these companies will need.

IN:        How do you plan to communicate and work with local government leaders, leaders of the business sector and other community leaders in St. Tammany?

PB:        I have already started an outreach to other government leaders in St. Tammany. Those with whom I have spoken have agreed to meet regularly to discuss issues that are important to all of us. The municipalities are eager for us to join forces in attracting new jobs and businesses. Before being elected, I served as executive director of the Northshore Business Council for four years. This organization is made up of CEOs from 50 of the top companies in our area. I have already built a relationship with them and will continue to foster that relationship while reaching out to other companies to be a part of our vision of job growth in St. Tammany. I have been involved with numerous organizations over the years and built relationships with community leaders through that involvement. But, as with everything else, continued effort will be put forth to make sure these relationships grow.

IN:        How will your experience with the U.S. delegation on the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women play into your role as parish president?

PB:        The experience I gained during the four years on the U.N. Commission will certainly be put to use when working with different groups to come to a compromise on issues that separate us. I understand how to negotiate for the most important parts of an agreement while realizing every stakeholder has a strong opinion on what is important to them. I know how difficult it is to get everything you want in negotiations and I have learned you often have to take a step at a time to reach your goal. While there will never be issues as divisive as the ones I faced at the U.N., the techniques are the same when trying to reach a conclusion that benefits the residents of St. Tammany Parish.

IN:        How will your experience as chairman and vice-chairman of the St. Tammany Parish Council help you in this position?

PB:        I was very fortunate to have been elected by my fellow council members to serve as chairman of the council for two years and vice chairman for two years. The experience I bring from those years helps me understand the working relationship between the council (the legislative) and the parish president (the administrative) sides of parish government. The charter spells out responsibilities of each of these arms of government and gives a good roadmap as to how St. Tammany should be run. That will be the basis of my administration—the Parish Charter and what responsibilities are given to each.

IN:        Please elaborate on your plans for working with the legislative delegation in Baton Rouge.

PB:        Over the past several years, I have sought to develop a good working relationship with our delegation. We have a dedicated group of legislators who have come together to form a very powerful bloc. I have already begun conversations with many of them to continue that relationship. I also will work to have a location where members of our delegation and parish leaders can meet whenever necessary to discuss specific legislation in a timely fashion. It is vitally important that the parish administration and our delegation work together to ensure that we are on the same page when it comes to helping St. Tammany achieve our legislative goals. That can be done more effectively if I spend as much time as possible in Baton Rouge during the legislative sessions. Other parishes have been very successful by using this method of communication.

IN:        With the many demands of official duties, how do you juggle family responsibilities as well?

PB:        I have been so fortunate to have the full support of my family—particularly my husband. We are at a time in our lives that affords me the freedom to pursue this job fully. Our children are grown and married with their own families, and my husband is totally retired. He was wonderful during the campaign period, making sure everything on the home front ran smoothly. He has worked most of his life to give our family the freedom to make the most of our opportunities, and he continues to do that for me today. I will never be able to thank him enough for his love and support. I will always strive to make him proud of my actions as parish president.

Susan Bonnett, president and CEO of the foundation, outlined three initial goals—to establish the NCF as a center for philanthropy in the region; to plan for smart, sustainable communities; and to build and solidify a credible community foundation from the ground up.

Through hard work and generous donors, the foundation has succeeded in meeting these goals. Susan credits the donors with the foundation’s success. “We focus on their passions first,” she explains. “The irony of our foundation is that many of our activities and accomplishments are donor driven—we help them have the impact they want to have.”

Susan Bonnett, Doyle Coatney and Carla Mouton in the Coatney Center for Philanthropy. Photo by Thomas Growden.

The foundation works hard to communicate how the foundation can help individuals and corporations accomplish their philanthropic goals.

“When people think ‘donors,’ they think the mega-rich,” Susan says. But that’s not necessarily true. Any size donation can be used through the foundation to fulfill a donor’s passion, whether for gardening initiatives (see sidebar), disaster relief services or other projects those are important to the donor and the community.

Ann Hebert of Covington provides a touching example of an individual who wanted to make an impact quickly. Her son, 6th-grader Jeremy Hebert, died of heart failure while at Pine View Middle School last September. “The awareness of heart disease and the importance of having a defibrillator immediately available to both children and adults became a passion that spoke to my heart immediately upon Jeremy’s death,” Ann says.

Realizing that defibrillators were only available in public high schools throughout St. Tammany, Ann wanted to obtain defibrillators for all schools. “After researching where and how to place funds, the vision of the NCF was a perfect match with our mission,” Ann says.

The result of her initial meeting with the foundation was immediate—“[the fund] was established by the time she left 45 minutes later,” Susan recalls. Family and friends could make a tax-deductible donation to the NCF for the Jeremy Hebert Defibrillator Fund. With those gifts, the foundation has begun purchasing defibrillators, and the school board has started delivering them.

Another advantage of working with the foundation to carry out your philanthropic goals is that they handle administration hassles, such as writing thank-you notes for donations received and managing tax and reporting requirements for the donors. Individuals and corporations can write one check to the foundation to create a fund from which they can manage their philanthropic giving. Jack and Maura Donahue, who have both a company fund and a personal fund at the foundation, are grateful for the foundation’s efforts.

“We think the world of the foundation. It’s an incredible asset,” Maura says. “The foundation does a great job in vetting nonprofits and letting you know they are viable. It’s terrific—they match the resources with the needs.”

From its beginning, the foundation has worked to strengthen local nonprofit organizations. “What we found almost immediately was that our nonprofit sector needed an immense amount of support and training,” Susan says. Often the executive director was doing all the work, from delivering the service and raising the money to writing the checks and even taking out the trash. Working together they have been able to increase the capacity of many nonprofit agencies, making the donations more effective.

The generous gift from Doyle Coatney funded the Coatney Center for Philanthropy, a physical office at the foundation’s Covington location. This conference room houses the Association of Fundraising Professionals’ resource library and is available to nonprofit staff from across the northshore.

Northshore Families Helping Families, as well as New Heights Therapeutic Riding, has used the space for events such as board meetings and workshops. The center also hosts workshops and seminars on relevant topics presented by local experts. They offer support in areas as wide ranging as resources management to sourcing grant opportunities and writing the applications. “We’ve gotten very helpful advice for running nonprofits,” says Deacon Tom Caffery, president and CEO of the Food Bank of Covington.

Sue Cheveallier, director of New Heights, also recognizes the value of these free events. “I attend as many of them as I can,” she says. “It’s information that we might otherwise have to pay quite a bit for. It’s also a great networking opportunity.”

The initial goal of effective community planning was made possible by a significant grant from the LRA Support Foundation. The NCF’s planning projects have ranged from a complete land-use plan for Hammond to a town center for Old Mandeville. “In the post-Katrina world of growth, growth and more growth, it was necessary for someone to step back and take a smart look at the situation,” Susan says. “We have, in the last five years, managed eight planning processes all over the four parishes in our jurisdiction.”

The Hammond plan by Dover, Kohl & Partners, financed by the NCF with matching funds from the City of Hammond, responded to the challenges of unregulated growth, worsening traffic and limited housing choices for seniors and young workers. The city is in the early stages of implementing the long-term plan. Hammond Mayor Mayson Foster says, “The foundation was excellent to work with. They prodded us and were with us every step of the way.”

Mandeville leaders approached the NCF with the idea of re-imagining and reinvigorating Old Mandeville. With an LRA grant secured by the foundation, Duany Plater-Zyberk & Company, a world-renowned architectural and planning firm, was brought in. They conducted an open planning session, or charrette, which allowed political leaders, volunteers, activists, preservationists, investors and residents to collaborate on what they wanted for their community. Through the construction of a town center focused in the heart of Old Mandeville at the crossing of the Tammany Trace, Mandeville hopes to create a sense of place, says Louisette Kidd, director of the Department of Planning & Development for the city.

Mandeville Mayor Donald Villere says, “The town center will be an expansion of the Trailhead and provide a center of activity and a meeting place for business, civic and social organizations to enhance the lifestyle of our citizens. The resulting economic growth will provide benefit to the city for years to come.”

A $150,000 grant created a revival plan for the West 30s neighborhood in Covington. This plan, currently in the implementation stage, calls for the rebuilding of basketball courts, home repairs, neighborhood clean-ups and safe, quality housing options. “Every neighborhood in our region has the potential to thrive,” Susan says. “Following this plan, the West 30s can achieve it.”

Looking back on their first five years, the NCF board members decided to create a three-year plan because of the rapid changes in the economic and philanthropic environment. They hope to elevate the conversation about philanthropy. “If the people of our region knew what their neighbors and friends were quietly doing for those in need, they would be astounded,” Susan says. “Our foundation is focused on telling those stories to get more northshore neighbors involved in using their resources to build a better place.”

As part of the ongoing effort to help nonprofits and create that regional conversation, the foundation will continue to host executive roundtables, where local nonprofit leaders and staff meet at a breakfast once every three months to discuss issues that affect the leadership of nonprofit organizations. To directly aid nonprofits in need, the foundation will work in a consulting capacity to help organizations that have a tremendous capacity for success.

This past fall, the foundation began implementing this idea by working directly with the Food Bank of Covington. “The Food Bank has everything it needs to succeed—an extensive donor base, a credible mission, a deep bench of volunteers and an extensive physical plant,” she says. “It had all the elements; it just needed a little organizational help.”

Susan worked with the members of the board of directors to refine the role and mission of the organization in the community and to organize themselves in the most effective manner. “We’ve experienced a tremendous growth, and it’s brought us a whole new set of issues to manage,” says Tom. “I feel like she’s a member of the staff,” he adds, laughing. “I’d rather other organizations not hear about the NCF—we’d like to keep them to ourselves—they’ve been that valuable to us.”

To learn more about the Northshore Community Foundation, call (985) 893-8757 or visit NorthshoreFoundation.org.

Sidebar:
Leaving (and Living) a Legacy – Dr. Jinx Vidrine

“When you’re facing death, you want your life to have meaning.”

That’s what Dr. Jinx Vidrine thought as she faced her second bout with breast cancer. She created the Jinx Vidrine Legacy Foundation Fund three years ago at the Northshore Community Foundation. “I pondered a long time about how to leave money—the paperwork was daunting,” Jinx says. But, “putting it under the foundation has been a total pleasure.”

After beating the cancer once again, she thought, “Why don’t I have fun when I’m alive?” (By “fun,” Jinx meant helping others.)

Through her fund, Jinx has sponsored field trips for Head Start students, given camp scholarships to children for YMCA programs and granted scholarships during her mission trip to Haiti—just to name a few. “When I see something that needs money, I can just call [the foundation] and they send checks!” she says.

Working with students at Head Start, Jinx discovered that many didn’t know anything about where their food comes from. She contacted the St. Tammany Parish School Board, stating that she wanted to pay for a garden in each of the elementary schools. “I thought there were eight or nine schools, but then I found out there are 27!” Jinx laughs.

Luckily, this daunting number did not stop her plans. From her main fund, Jinx transferred $10,000 to create the Legacy Gardens Fund at the foundation. Ten gardens were planted this past fall, and there are plans for more.

Each school garden receives organic soil, vegetable seeds and seedlings, a watering system and mulch for four-by-four-foot square garden areas, as well as garden curriculum resources. Jinx hopes the program will promote healthy eating and instill environmental stewardship as the students learn the basics of planting, caring for and harvesting the vegetables.

Grants from the Legacy Gardens Fund are available for community gardens as well. The fund is, literally, seed money. Jinx hopes that local organizations, businesses and individuals will consider adopting a school either online or by sending a check to the NCF for the Legacy Gardens Fund; all donations qualify for a tax deduction.

Stocks and cash are not the only things that can be donated through the foundation. Jinx has also donated 11 lots to Habitat for Humanity. “I want everyone to know that they can also easily set up a personal foundation with the NCF,” she says. “Or 10 people can put up as little as $1,000 each and work together to fulfill their passions and the needs of the community. And, it’s fun!”

To donate to the Legacy Gardens Fund or to sponsor a garden, call 893-8757 or visit NorthshoreFoundation.org.